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Two Portland baristas headed to U.S. Barista Championship

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Michael Phillips, of Intelligentsia Coffee in Chicago, prepares his specialty coffee for the judges in the finals of the 2009 United States Barista Championships at the Oregon Convention Center.
(Randy L. Rasmussen/The Oregonian)

Call it the coffee clash, the espresso encounter, the
barista battle royal – once the steam clears the competitors only care about
one title: U.S. Barista Champion.

Here in the Pacific Northwest, where the coffee flows like
water, the competition should be fierce. But for all the bitter rivalry that
seems to endlessly percolate between Portland and Seattle, the Rose City hasn't
come home with a single Barista Champion title in 12 years of competition. Not
once.

This year two Portland baristas aim to turn around the dry
spell, looking to outshine competition from Washington state and elsewhere at
the 2014 U.S. Coffee Championships,
April 24 to 27 in Seattle.

Representing The Fresh
Pot and competing in her first national competition is Bethany Hargrove.
Bethany didn't expect to place at the Big Western regional competition,
in fact she spent the day before the announcement telling herself she wouldn't,
that she couldn't, that she shouldn't. She was shocked to find out that she
could, that she should and that she did, in fact, take home fifth place in the Northwest region.

"I was shocked, I couldn't believe it," Bethany said. In the
weeks after she returned to Portland, she half-expected somebody to jump out
from behind a counter and tell her it was all a joke, that she didn't win
anything at all. "I would have believed them," she said.

She'll be competing alongside fellow Portlander Corey
Critchfield, a barista at Case Study Coffee who won third place in the Northwest. Corey didn't respond to requests for an interview, but according to a
USCC bio, he's been working as a barista for four years.

The experience is key to winning competitions. Competitors
must make 12 drinks in 15 minutes. That includes espressos, cappuccinos and a
personally designed signature beverage. While they're preparing the coffee they
also must talk about the coffee they're serving. That's where all the jargon
about origin, fair-trade status and roasting process comes in handy.

Judges score each drink by each competitor in categories
like taste and flavor (there is a difference), as well as creativity,
functionality and the visual presentation of the drink, all the way down to the
foam. The verbal presentation also gets a score, as does the technical aspect,
including an inspection of the competitors' stations before and after the
presentation.

It all sounds very complicated, but it gives serious insight
into what all goes into pouring a morning latte.

Bethany said she doesn't take it too seriously. She's going
to compete, but she's more concerned with having a good time than taking home
the top prize. "It's an opportunity to meet the larger coffee community and
hang out with a bunch of people who are stoked about coffee," she said. "And
people who are stoked about coffee tend to be awesome."

That doesn't mean we won't cheer for our Portland baristas
in Seattle or from afar, praying they bring the U.S. Barista Championship title
to the Rose City – if only just this once.